The battle of the devil youths finally begins! Team Gremory vs. Team Sitri! Part 3

XXX

"…"- Speaking

'…'- Thoughts

[…]- Ddraig

{…}- Albion

(…)- Vritra

XXX

XXX

(In Kuoh Town about 5 years ago…)

XXX

"Hey, you wanna go for karaoke after class?"

"Meh, seems like a cliché thing to do…"

"Okay, then what about going to the arcade?"

"Meh, I'd rather just play at home on my console…"

"…Fine, then do you want to shoot some hoops at the gym after the team's done with practice?"

"Nah, I just don't feel like i-."

"Dammit, Kyle, remind me why we're even friends!" Argued two male middle school students dressed in the formal black gakuran uniform. They were among many of the student groups in home room that chatting about their afterschool plans and gossiping about the scandalous hand holdings seen between some of the fellow peers.

'Your friends because you've already made your own clique that will probably follow you to high school.' Saji tiredly sighed as he watched all the vibrant engagement from his desk near the back exit of the class.

He shook his head as he groaned, 'Its only been a week or two and I'm already too slow to keep up with this paradigm shift.' He pulled up his glasses and rubbed his eyes. 'I knew I should have set some time aside from studying for that first quiz to actually branch out.' His mother did urge him to make a few friends after orientation, but he had to be adamant in believing that there was enough time. Now there he was stacking a collection of the current week's completed homework…again.

Looking to two nearby students, a male and female happily chatting the time away during break period. Maybe it wasn't too late to at least try making some acquaintances, and soon enough the pair could make a great trio of friends like in Pokémon or Attack on Titan, well that last was a bit dicey, but they're still nice to each other.

Getting up, Saji slowly made his way over to the pair still holding his stack of homework. His heartbeat quickened with each step.

He gulped, 'O-Okay, just give them a greeting, nothing too desperate or too ecstatic. I have to meet a certain equilibrium then go for it.'

*Snooooooore~!*

'Maybe after introducing myself, I'll go on the attack and tell them about how I've finished my homework for the week, and when they talk about not even starting their own, I'll lend out my services as a tutor.'

*Snoooooooooooore~!*

'But if they already did do it then I'll offer to help them for a study session every now and again. And if I play my cards right I might even get to know about them and we'd be able to invite each other to study at our homes and-!'

*Doink!*

Snapping out of his personal moment of grandeur, Saji stops near a vacated desk where a small whittled down eraser bounces down between his legs. Picking it up, he looked to his snoring classmate, who was still conked out from the early morning lectures. They wore the same black gakuran uniform as his but in a more disheveled fashion along with wearing an odd pair of goggles.

"I'll just put it back and..." Saji gently place the eraser back onto the desk.

*Tap…*

Though barely audible in the loud classroom, the light tapping of the eraser on desk caused the goggled student to snap right awake. Immediately raising his head and exclaiming, "Sixty-four! Um, no, its fifty-five! Its zero! Huh? Where am I?"

Looking around at the classroom now going through its break, the student then looked up at Saji with weary eyes, "And who the flip are you?"

"Oh, I'm Saji Genshirou."

"Oh, wassup, my name's Michael Hanamura the Great…"

"Nice name."

"I know its my own name and everything to, hehe…"

"But wait… The great? What makes you so great in the first place?"

"Yes…"

"…Well, urh…okay…"

"…"

"Oh, you dropped your eraser, so I just put it back..."

"Thanks…"

"…"

"��"

"…Hey, do you mind doing me a solid later?"

"Uh…sure, what do you need?"

"…Belief…"

And just Saji said those very words, a huge grin planted itself onto Michael's face. And from that point onwards that was the beginning of a hazardly, dangerous friendship, and the end of Saji's particularly normal life.

XXX

Present (5 years later)

XXX

[One hour and 15 minutes have passed.]

"Haaaaaah!"

"Oryaaaaah!"

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *WHAAAM*

Resounding throughout the empty halls of the replicated Kuoh town's mall, the announcement fell on deaf ears as the loud exchange of blows occupied the attention of the two [Pawns] interlocked in fierce combat. The pair's fight had raged on for thirty-five minutes with both fighters sizing the other up with each strike they made.

Being the first to start the battle, Michael had the overall advantage as his punches held more weight to them. There's also the fact that each blow that he sent Saji's way kept connecting despite the Prison Dragon possessor guarding the attacks. The teen didn't know much about Saji's training regimen, but he had to say that those legs of his were really keeping a close combatant like him at bay especially with those black flames covering them.

As for Saji, he was having a difficult time keeping up with the Red Dragon Emperor's possessor. Despite the effectiveness of his own training with Shirou and Master Jirou, he still had to come to terms with how Michael was simply his physical better. Considering the past ridiculous enemies that his friend had faced on top of the added one month of training. The past thirty-five minutes that they spent exchanging blows nearly kept the Sitri pawn hanging by a thread.

Michael's attacks were fierce and coordinated with each blow never missing their mark. A few shots here and there, but Saji barely manages to endure blocking and dodging the thrown kicks and punches. Saji wasn't going to overestimate himself into thinking that he could win so easily, but he certainly wasn't going to deny his own important qualities to make the Kaichou victorious for the match.

Plus, if there was something that Saji had to be thankful for during his hellish training with Shirou it was him learning the basic art of Savate, French footfighting.

*WHOOSH!*

A wide kick coated in black flames nearly slammed against Michael's neck forcing the Gremory Pawn to lean his body back and narrowly avoid it. This was followed by more kicks aiming for the dark skinned teen's head and chest as Michael kept his distance from the blazing kicks.

A close ranged fighter like Michael had his hands completely tied during this specific match. Thanks to Saji's practiced kicks, he was able to gain breathing room to think while keeping his opponent at a distance. Plus, he knew that the teen wouldn't be so reckless as to randomly fire his Dragon Shots in an enclosed space as an alternative for fighting in close range.

…Saji hopes Michael wasn't going to be that reckless because it would mean more trouble for him if he had to try and dodge any large attacks with so little space.

'That training of his must have been like hell. I thought he would have tired out by now.' Michael was impressed, he wanted to test the waters and see if their thirty-minute exchange would tire out the other pawn out. Saji certainly wasn't a slouch before their own individual month of training, but he believed that Ole Doctor Science would lack stamina compared to his own. He was almost happy that his bro improved…

Almost…

The loud clashing of Michael's elbow and Saji's knee bounced off the walls of the hallway as the two further pushed their attacks to gain more ground. With Michael's elbow holding more force from its blow.

"Grgh!" Saji winced.

*Skid…!*

"Gotcha, Saj!"

Being pushed back, The Sitri pawn gritted his teeth as Michael instantly used the arm that he attacked with to grasp onto his opponent's leg. The bespectacled pawn attempted to pull himself from the teen's grip but found that Michael's fingers were painfully digging into him with an unrelenting grip like that of a dragon's claw.

Locking him in place, Michael raised his Boosted Gear clad arm to resemble a gun a charge a sphere of dragon energy at enemy [Pawn].

"Dragon G-!"

*FWOOOOSH!*

"…!"

"Horyaaah!"

"Tch!" Stopping mid-attack, Michael quickly ducks his body to avoid narrowly getting his head kicked with a leg emblazoned in fierce black flames. Though the kick did miss while also forcing Saji to turn his back to him, Michael was quick to relinquish his hold over Saji's leg as soon as he noticed the immense heat that arising from as it too was clad in black flames.

This forced Michael to take a leap backwards in order to avoid any possible flame kicks, and this admittedly left Saji with some time to breath. However as soon as Michael's feet touched the ground, he kicked himself back into the fight with his fist cocked back.

Forced to retaliate, Saji wasted no time in spinning back to face Michael to aim another black flamed kick for Michael's head once. Only this time, he had enough time to reel back the kick for some staggering damage.

"Whoa!" Putting his rush to a stop, Michael leant his upper body back to ground just barely dodging the roundhouse kick as the flames light singed his hair. Landing backwards on his hands, he leaned his upper back and upper body in the air with his two upraised feet directed at Saji. The blonde pawn maneuvered the leg that had just attempted roundhouse kick his opponent to then raise it above his own head in anticipation to axe kick the black haired Sekiryuutei.

*SLAAAM!*

Bringing his leg down, Saji smashed his foot into the black and white tiled flooring of the building creating a medium sized crater. Sadly, he focused his eyes to the drab white ceiling after narrowly craning his head in a deft attempt at avoiding two touki covered feet from colliding with his vulnerable chin.

"Phew!" Saji let out a breath of relief but gasped as a red light was shone on his face. In the air, Michael had prepared another sphere of dragon energy and though it was smaller, Saji could instantly tell from how pressurized it was that it was compact.

"Dragon Gun!"

*DON!*

The blast missed as Saji jumped backwards as it left a small smoking hole in the ground.

'Shit, he taught himself how to better control his power that much?' Saji gritted his teeth at the sight, 'Now I'll really have to worry about keeping him at a distance.' Then an idea struck Saji as he thought about the dangers of being in long distance combat.

'Hold on, then maybe…' Saji contemplated as he landed on the ground.

Landing as well, Michael trained his finger at Saji, but this time raised the other as well leaving Saji to deeply inhale at what was to soon come.

'Let's see if you can keep up with this, Saj…' Michael lowly growled.

'Okay, let's put what Shirou taught us to good use…' He never expected to hear himself ever think that, but considering the situation…

"Dragon Gun X 2!"

It was a definite necessity.

"DODGE!" Saji bellowed in the same violent fashion as his training partner.

*DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!*

The barrage of bullets fired at Saji as if a whole squadron of officers were opening fire on him as the sheer range of the attack was outstanding. During the first volley, Saji found himself managing to dodge past each of the blasts with ease, but as Michael really began to apply pressure with more blasts, he found himself struggling to really keep up with the onslaught. At this point, he was getting grazed with each attack shot at him despite his best efforts to avoid them.

"Gragh! Ergh! Crap…!" Saji gritted his teeth as he began to get overwhelmed by the bullet barrage.

'Need cover!'

While deftly moving his head from getting shot at, Saji shot a demonic blast of energy at the ground in between the two fighters creating a smokescreen just big enough to askew Michael's vision. Lowering his hands, Michael closely observed the smoke and kept track of Saji's power signature from within it.

'He's not running, obviously…' Michael thought as he could feel what seemed to be Saji's draconic power flare from within it, 'He's charging an attack?' He immediately fell into his battle stance, expecting a blast of energy or flames to be sent his way.

To be truthful, he didn't know what to expect from Saji. Apart from the Absorption Line and vaguely that black fire thing, he was completely in the dark about Saji's other sacred gear abilities and whatever plans that he had cooking up in that brain of his.

'He's just standing there, and yet his power isn't even rising. So is he charging something or…' Then it the realization hit Michael as soon as he noticed something off with the smoke, 'Wait a minute, what's the deal with the smoke?'

[Hold on…] Ddraig said upon realization.

'Ddraig?' The teen questioned but kept his eyes trained on the peculiar sight.

It was an odd sight, the black smog's shadow was suspiciously growing beyond its initial size, but as he got a better look at it, he noticed the serpentine motions that they were making. As if they were alive.

[…! Partner, move back!]

'Hu-?'

And before Michael could even twitch, a large shadow shot itself along the floor after him like a snake.

"Nope! Nope! Nope!" Backpeddaling, Michael kept his eyes on the shadow trying to reach him, it doesn't take common sense to know that touching that would be big trouble for him. The farther back he travelled, the farther the shadow would follow, and he was quite a distance away from the smoke cloud and Saji at this point.

'So, he used that as cover and added range for this shadow technique of his to work, huh? Clever…' Michael thought but gasped as he finally heard a familiar sound emanate from the smoke cloud being thrown through the air.

"Line, go!"

*FWIIIIIIIIIIIISH!* *WRAP!*

"Crap!" Michael grunted as he soon came to a stop once Saji's line tightly wrapped itself onto his arm. He was too preoccupied with the shadow and momentarily forgot to focus on Saji. But then he noticed that the shadow's advances soon came to a halt once Saji's line entangled him, it even retreated back to the smoke.

*PUUUUULLLL!*

"Grgh!" Gripping his arm, he resisted the strong pull of the line dragging him to its point of origin, Saji. Also based on the large distance between them, he would be open to quite an attack if he let himself be dragged in so easily.

'Oh no you don't!' Michael gritted his teeth, stomped his foot back and gripped onto the line with both of his arms, 'If its going to be like that then I'll just bring you to me!' His muscles tensed as he cloaked himself in touki to heighten his strength as he effortlessly gives the line a big yank easily pulling Saji from the safety of the smoke cloud much to his own surprise.

'That was too easy…' Michael's eyes widened as he noticed the emerging Saji's left leg searing with the same intense black flames as before, but this time, there was something different about it as a familiar white light emanated around Saji's entire body.

"No, is that-!?" He cursed himself mid-sentence as he realized that he just pulled Saji in too fast as he was already in close range to strike him. And as soon as he tried to move, his entire body became paralyzed.

"What!?" Michael gasped.

'Capture, success.' Saji smiled.

Getting a hunch, he looked down to see if the shadow had gotten to him, but found that the large black shadowy mass wasn't even there, the only shadow that was, were his own and the line's. His eyes then widened as he realized Saji's clever ploy of using the line's shadow as an extension to get to him with that shadowy ability of his.

"Infernal Shot!" Saji raised his leg in mid-air as he set his sights for Michael's head. The infernal flames surrounding his leg and feet fiercely went ablaze.

"Grch!" With not enough time to digest his sudden paralysis and Saji's sudden burst in power, he gritted his teeth and immediately cloaked himself in touki to defend against the incoming kick.

*WHAAAM!*

A burning straight heel kick to jaw snapped the teen's head back as his raised tangled arm was forcibly pulled behind him as it followed Saji, who landed and faced the back of the teen.

'That should be enough to rattle Mike! Now its time for me to go on the offensive.' Saji raised his leg as he leaned forward to begin his assault, 'Using Shadow prison on top of it may be playing it safe, but considering that its Michael, any precaution is better than nothing!'

Putting more tension on the line, Saji commanded for it to drag Michael into his attack. But after a strained tug of it, the teen had remained stuck in place. A few more attempts left Saji confused. He had successfully captured Mike, his lines were thicker than ever and his shadow prison has yet to be broken. If there were any signs of a struggle, he would be struggling to placate th-.

'Hold on, he's not struggling…' Saji gulped, he couldn't pull Michael to him, yet his opponent didn't even move or so much as twitch. He was motionless, 'Crap, that's not a good sign.'

"Hey, Saj, that was a pretty clever trick you did there…" Michael quietly remarked as he tightened his fist that was wrapped in the line. Soon a large pressure began to build up around Saji as sweat beaded down his forehead.

"I have to give you props not only just for that, but also because you can use touki too. You've really must've pushed yourself to the brink to accomplish that. Good job." Though praise slipped his lips, the tone of his voice was less than its familiar jovialness.

Soon a painful sensation began to prickle at Saji's skin, no, it felt as though his entire body was burning for some reason.

(My other self, he's using…Dragon Slayer aura?) Vritra warned more out of shock at the familiar sensation streaming through Saji's body.

'Dragon Sla-Ascalon!?' Saji gasped, the line attached to Michael's arm, the bastard was slowly releasing the golden aura down in. He questioned why Mike would even attempt such a barebones attempt at damaging him. So, he further delved into sensing the energy, 'There had to be a reason, there has to b-!'

"But you know… I haven't been slacking this month either, admittedly, fighting dragons day in and out does that to you plus a lack of sleep…" Michael gritted his teeth as a mixture of his touki and dragon slayer aura slowly built up around him.

Saji could feel it, like a dam that's near the point of collapse just barely holding back the raging tide of a river, the amount of power that was building up was intense. But not as intense as the wide eyed glare that Michael was giving him over his shoulder.

"So, I just want to say right now because I'm on edge… Get ready cuz I'm going to kick your ass…"

(My other self!) Vritra roared to the shaken Saji.

'R-Right!' Breaking himself out of his intimidated stupor, Saji immediately charged in to lay in another to fiery kick.

"Haaaaaaaaaaah!"

Taking in a deep breath, Michael let out a resounding roar, the signal for the sudden rush of dragon slaying aura that poured out of his body and Boosted Gear.

*WHOOOOOOOOSH!*

The harmful radiance of the golden aura was like hot death to Saji that it was complete agony to even bother focusing at Michael in the epicenter of it, let alone even look at him. Having both a holy sword and dragon slayer element in the blade made it Saji's worst fear in the fight.

"…Crap!" Saji soon felt his hold over Michael's shadow detach as his own shadow returned to him.

'Dammit! The shadow!' Saji cursed.

(Dragon Slayer weapons are quite the pesky annoyances, aren't they? Not even Shadow Prison can maintain itself anywhere near that vile aura…) Vritra hissed.

"If that's the case then using the line would-!"

[Blade!]

*SHING!* *SNRK!*

"Also be a waste!" Saji panicked once he felt the sudden disconnect between him and Michael, but not before blinking to see that the Red Dragon Emperor was already upon him with Ascalon in hand.

*SWISH!*

A long arc of the blade towards his head made Saji's heart skip a beat as he narrowly dodges by leaning his upper body back by just a few feet. He could see the strands of his blond hair cut as the cold steel barely scathed him. He hoped to gain more ground as he quickly backed away but was alarmed after blinking once more to see that Michael was no longer in front of him.

(Behind you!)

"Hu-Ngh!"

*SHING!* *Slick~!*

Saji swung his head to the side as a burning sensation filled his right cheek after Ascalon lunged itself past his head. The skin of cheek sizzled from contact with the holy-dragon slaying energy residing in the blade, which a harmful gaseous purple smoke.

"Nrgh!" Saji winced in pain.

'Fast… Too fast…' Saji inhaled sharply as he quickly cloaked himself in his own touki to be able to react fast enough to flip forward and dodge another clear swing of the sword aimed for his back.

[Boost!]

'Now that can't be go-! Oh, come on!' Saji grunted as he whipped around to see Michael once again charging at him.

[Boost!]

*SWOOOSH!*

Even after he finally gained some feet apart from the teen, Michael still only closed the gap between them. Saji didn't know much about swordsmanship, but the skills that Michael was presenting was too much for him to handle as it was now his turn to be kept at a distance after each swing of the dragon slayer blade was dangerously close to cleaving into him. He couldn't use his legs to kick otherwise, he'd be sacrificing them to get slashed or worse chopped off if the strong winds of swing of the sword was an indicator to how much power Michael was putting into them.

But most of all, he was worried about the power that he was stockpiling in the Boosted Gear.

[Boost!]

"Ascalon! Extend!" Michael pointed the blade directly at Saji.

"…Dammit…"

'Ddraig!' Michael thought.

[Got it, Partner!]

*CHNK!*

'Oh, you son of a-!' Saji cursed himself as he saw Ascalon immediately pull back into Boosted Gear, which was now free to clench itself into a golden aura cladded fist of dragon slayer aura.

"Eat it!"

*WHAAAAAM!*

A clean hit directly to the cheek.

It was not a pretty sight, in terms of it being the first real blow that Saji had to receive, it could quite literally be the most painful as he was sent spiraling through air coughing up a mouthful of blood. The fall back to the ground was not as pleasant as the punch still disoriented him enough to the point to where he had a bit of trouble putting his tumbling to a stop.

[Blade!]

'Shit, not again…' Saji forced him to breathe through teeth once he heard Michael's rapidly approaching footsteps.

Clumsily putting a stop to his rolling, Saji shook off the punch as best as he could and focused his sights on the very blade extended at him, "Delete Field…" Suddenly, he manifested on his right eye, a yellow slit purple dragon's eye that grew fierce as soon as it locked onto Michael's Ascalon.

"What in the-?" Feeling less empowered than before, Michael noticed the golden aura enshrouding him was gone as he stopped to check on it, "What happened to Ascalon?"

'Delete Field is what happened to it…' Saji grunted as he got back onto his feet.

(By putting your entire attention on the blade, it will less likely be able to exude its energy. But my other self, by doing this you prevent yourself from suppressing any other abilities.)

'I know, I'm still not strong enough to suppress more than one…' Delete Field was an incredible ability to have, but not even Saji could use it to its full capability yet. As he was now, he could either fully suppress the single ability for a person or object, or merely dampen everything that was in his field of range and considering that Michael's boosting abilities could overcome the latter, he decided to stick with the former.

(I believe now would be a good chance to use that plan you had in store, my Other self.) Vritra chuckled.

'Y-Yeah, I guess now is the time…' While rubbing his throbbing cheek in pain, Saji quickly pulled out a vial from his pocket.

[Partner be careful this ability of Vritra's is known as Delete Field. By being in the general range of the user's malicious sight, you'll find that your abilities will be suppressed.]

'Really?'

[Boost!]

Michael wondered, then immediately released a burst of Touki to enshroud his body along with using the Boosted Gear.

'Then how come I can still use my other skills?'

[Hm, odd, then the ability must be limited by the user's own skill. Were Vritra's possessor to truly have a full grasp over the ability then things would have been exceedingly difficult for you.]

'Yeah, geez, this Vritra guy sure was a tricky Dragon King, huh?' Michael injected Ascalon back into the Boosted Gear.

[As the weakest of the Five Dragon Kings, he had to create such troublesome and deadly abilities to make up for his weaknesses.] Ddraig explained.

'Hm, sounds pretty cool. Can definitely see why Saji's so good at using it.' Michael thought as he raised fashioned hand to resemble a gun and pointed it straight at Saji.

*DON!* *CRACK!*

"Nice try, bro, but that won't work twice."

"Dammit, and that was my last vial of cinnamon too…" Saji cursed as he looked at the shattered remains of the vial.

"C Plus for effort if you really think I'll believe those words." Michael cloaked his body in touki and grew ready in his stance. The white aura that released being more pressured and thicker than before.

"Wow, if a moron like you is grading me this hard then I really have to step up my acting skills…" Saji chuckled through pained deep breaths as he stood up though he did feel much better than earlier thanks to the quick breather.

"Pranks and trickery were always my strong point between the two of us." Michael inched closer.

"Yeah, Mike, but what I lacked in that department…"

*SHIIIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIIIIINE!*

Six medium sized magical circles appeared over Saji with one small magic circle on the hand that once held the cinnamon vial.

"…!" Unaware of their true function, Michael charged at Saji in a flash and was mere moments from connecting his touki clad fist into the Sitri Pawn's gut.

"I've more than made up for it in brains."

*CLICK!*

*FLAAAASH-FLAAAASH-FLAAAASH-FLAAASH-FLAAASH-FLAAASH!*

In his opposite hand, Saji pulled out a remove and gave it a gentle click as six intense rays of blazing stadium lights seared themselves into Michael's unprotected eyes.

"Gyaaaaaaaargh! It burns, it burns so bad!" Michael screamed as he fell past Saji mid-punch and completely missed his target while clutching his eyes.

'So glad that worked, positioning those lights before hand really paid off…' Saji adjusted his glasses as they darkened to adapt to the harsh light rays, 'Plus, I'm glad that my mom sprung for purchasing a pair of these with a polaroid feature.'

"God dammit, I can't see! It hurts~! It hurts~!" Michael wailed as he rolled around on the ground even putting the side of his into his mouth to weirdly deal with the pain.

(Now while the iron is hot, my Other Self…)

'Yeah…' In one hand, Saji pulled out another vial of cinnamon while in the other hand, the black eastern dragon markings on his arm began to glow a dangerous black aura as jet flames began to emerge in a fiery hot spiral.

'Even Mike's defenseless to handle my Blaze Black Flare like this especially if I add in cinnamon to lower his constitution…' Saji smiled, extremely elated that one of his plans worked perfectly, 'I can't believe this is actually going to work. With this we'll be able to seal the deal and earn Kaichou the win, but first, after retiring him, I'll definitely go over to Tsubaki-senpai, and-!'

(My other self…) Vritra reminded.

'Yes, sorry, sorry…' Saji blushed as he was getting too ahead of himself, 'Now lets send you on your way, Mike.'

"Gyah! The pain make it stop! Make it stop~!" Michael was really biting into his hand that now his teeth were drawing a moderate stream of blood.

"Don't worry, Mike, I'll put an end to it, right now…"

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH~!*

The blazing black flames around his arms grew more wild as he began to form an eastern dragon's head from the vicious inferno.

"Infernal Flame Dragon's Ro-!"

"It hurts! It hurts! It…Heh…" Michael's pained screams soon died down as they were soon replaced by a wide grin and an unsettling laughter, "I…got…you…"

"Wha-?"

*SWISH!* *SPLATTER!*

"Ergh! My glasses!" Saji screamed as he reflexively closed his eyes as a big spattering of Michael's dark scarlet blood covered his spectacles. By recoiling back, he not only lost his concentration on his attack but also…

(My Other self, quickly, you have to steady Deleted Field back onto hi-!)

"Rooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!"

*SHATTER-SHATTER-SHATTER-SHATTER-SHATTER-SHATTER!*

"Agh!"

Taking a deep breath, Michael released an ear-splitting roar that decimated the glass of each of the teleported stadium lights direct at him. Plus, he gained the added bonus of further disorienting Saji, who he was now free to happily engage.

"First, I'll be taking this…" Michael snatched away the vial of cinnamon from Saji's weakened grip and tossed into a nearby trash bin, "Now…"

*BAM!* *WHAM!* *CRACK!*

"Gyuarck!"

Saji spewed some bile and blood from him mouth after receiving a devastating punch to the face, knee to gut and elbow to the chest but each blow that Michael delivered didn't sending him flying like before. No, this time he knew that the teen was keen on inflicting as much damage as he possibly can.

"Hah!" In a vain attempt to defend himself, Saji swung a less volatile flamed kick at Michael, who effortlessly guarded against it by upping the amount of touki in his forearm to reduce the flame's damages, but not fully dull down the irritation felt from the infernal black flames making contact with his skin.

"Nice try, Saj."

"…Huh?" Saji suddenly felt a rising pressure from Michael's forearm before a sudden force repelled his swung kick back, unbalancing his posture, "W-What the heck was-dourgh!" Saji was met with another touki clad punch to the face.

'Thanks, Aniki…' Michael thought gratefully, compared to that uncontrollable burst of touki that he used to shoot himself after Bikou, he made sure to go to a lesser extreme to avoid causing a mess of the mall.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *SWEEP!*

*THUD!*

After getting a flurry of piercing punches to the chest, Saji fell to his feet after Michael sweep him off of them. Though blinded by his blood stained glasses, he was still able to look above the rim to see a white and gold aura clad fist being shot down at him.

"Nope!" Not willing to feel what an attack imbued with touki and dragon slayer energy to the face, Saji narrowly rolled away from the attack that created a crater the size of his head.

"Let's see you handle this, Mike!" Saji stops midroll to spin his upper on the ground like a street dancer, kicking his legs to increase the speed of each spin as he used his signature Blaze Black Flare to clad his legs once more.

"Wuh-oh!"

*SLAAAAM!*

And with one final spin, Saji pushed himself back to Michael with the gain mobility and slammed a flaming axe kick towards the Gremory Pawn's head.

"Grgh… Okay, that one actually stung pretty freaking bad…" Michael admitted as he felt the sleeves of his uniform and even his forearm's skin burn away from the impactful attack, he cursed himself for anticipating the attack to be just as ineffective as that weak retaliatory kick from before.

'Only stung…?' Saji clicked his tongue in frustration but gasped as soon as Michael held his hand out at him.

"Dragon Pulse!"

*DOON!*

"Gyaargh!"

Rushing through his arm, Michael released a mixture of red dragon energy and gold dragon slayer energy to a big enough wave to send Saji flying and crashing to the mall's hard tiled flooring.

"Urgh…" Michael rubbed his forearm and looked to Saji, 'Okay, I might have taken it a bit easy there.'

[Right about now, I would have reprimanded you for getting careless, but… I will admit that miscalculations in the middle of a fight not uncommon.] Ddraig said.

'Hm, so are you actually praising me?' Michael asked, hopefully as he rolled his wrist.

[No, I'm simply telling you that your current mistake was okay. Don't get used to me telling you this because the disastrous mistakes you usually make on a daily basis are not absolved of criticism.]

'You know…I keep telling myself not to have hope that you'll finally give me a pick me up without undercutting it, and yet, I still keep falling for it…' Michael sniffled.

[Another mistake that I would gladly get on your case for, but let's save that for another time, Partner. Vritra's possessor is getting back up.]

'Right!' Michael nodded.

Though a bit shaky and battered, Saji was back on his feet giving Michael a haggard glare as he takes off his glasses and places them through a magical circle to be stored in another dimension before summoning up a new cleaner pair to wear.

"…H-How?" Saji panted before breathing deeply to compose himself to speak, "How were you able to recover from the lights so fast?"

"Like I said dude, I trained the month away fighting dragons. I even fought a lightning dragon that kept making thunderclaps that momentarily blinded me, so compared to that some heavy lights won't do jack squat." Michael shrugged.

"…I see…" Saji bitterly bit his lip.

"I was pretending to be hurt from the light, and I was worried that I might have oversold it, but then I noticed that you were just standing with that complicated expression in thought. To be honest, I was a bit terrified there after you charged your attack and prepared that fire attack of yours. I was wondering if you were going to use that shadow trick to hold me while using that Delete Field ability to suppress Ascalon's power. I might not have walked away from that without a few serious burns."

*SMACK!*

"Dude…?" Michael questioned.

'That's what I freaking get for overthinking things when getting the advantage.' Saji rubbed his forehead after giving it such a painful facepalm.

"Well…I'm not going to say that your plans were terrible. You really had me scared a few times, its just that… I've literally been through much worse than what you've thrown at me so far." Michael was completely grateful to Gramps and the other dragons of Dragon Mountain, roughing it up there has really toughened him up.

'Too bad I couldn't achieve…' Michael darkly thought then shook his head, 'N-Nope, focus on the fight and cry about it later, Mike.'

[…?] Ddraig noticed something odd from within the young but remained silent.

"I can tell…" Saji lightly panted as he gave Michael a look over, "You barely look winded…" Not to mention barely injured, even after almost getting overwhelmed by his allergic reaction didn't do enough to put a dent into his health.

"Don't sell yourself short, man. You've gotten strong and I would have struggled had you faced pre-month me like you are now. But…" Michael raised his fists and grew ready in his stance, "I'm going to have knock you out now…"

"…" Amazing. That was the only word that Saji could simply describe his friend. He may have been reincarnated as a devil first, but Michael's been the one, who's been taking leaps and bounds that Saji would never have dreamed of as a fellow Pawn. Master Jirou scolded him for even thinking this, but even Saji couldn't deny the obvious; that no matter how hard he worked, Michael would always be one step ahead of him.

As a fighter, Saji knew his Savate skills were meager in comparison to Michael's overall martial arts learned from Kai.

Raw Power? Vritra certainly wasn't a pushover, being a dragon proved that, and also being renowned as one of the Five Dragon Kings which solidified his strength. Sadly, even with all of the Prison Dragon's sacred gears, Michael possessed the Longinus that held the Welsh Dragon, one of two Heavenly Dragons that outclassed them Dragon Kings in sheer power through constantly boosting his power.

In those two areas, he knew that he couldn't surpass Michael in true combat even if he did learn from Master Jirou and get run ragged as Shirou's training partner/punching bag, that progress still came up short.

He had even learned how to tap into some of his touki, and STILL, compared to the large reserves that Michael had, he came up short.

But…

'Even so…' He was aware of his weaknesses and he decided to draw strength from the one thing he knew that he had the edge over on Michael, his wits, 'Master was right…without the strength needed to enact my plans, I won't get anywhere. Which is why-!' Saji clenched his fist as he punched the ground, 'I need

(My Other Self…are you thinking about "promoting"?) Vritra solemnly asked, (Because if you are, then you'd risk not only your sanity, but you'd also be costing your master victory by using in this cramped space.)

During the last days of Saji's first 15 days, he had fully gotten used to utilizing each of Vritra's four sacred gears during his day to day sparring (one sided beatdowns) with Shirou. But because Shirou was being Shirou by not pulling any punches, he inadvertently pushed Saji past the deep end of his physical limit and soon after that everything went black and became extremely hot.

The pawn had no idea what was happening before he could hear a voice; Vritra's voice, as the dragon began to calm him down just long enough for Shirou to finally knock him out. He had gone berserk by fully utilizing the Prison Dragon's sacred gears all in tandem.

That was a memory that the Prison Dragon would vividly remember since it was amidst that moment of chaos that his fragmented souls combined and restored his consciousness.

'Don't worry, Vritra even I wouldn't do something that stupid…' Saji shakily pushed himself back up onto his feet. After going crazy in that promotion form, Saji was only able to temper it the next remaining 15 days, but only by so much before going berserk again.

'I'm thinking something that's on Mike's level of stupidity…' Saji's nervously smiled, 'What if I used Vritra Promotion to trigger the Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker?'

(…!)

'If I can contain all of that power in my body, then maybe I could achieve it…'

(…That would be suicidal���) Vritra wasn't reprimanding the teen, it was simply a fact. His mind could barely handle the power engulfing him, so him engulfing said power would incinerate him from the inside out.

'It sure would, even after working to use it the best I could hold out before I lose myself is a minute. But if there's one thing that I've learned from those that dealt with dragons…' Saji looked to Michael, 'Is that taking risks is the only way to get results.'

After the Gremory vs. Phenex Rating Game, Michael had explained the cause for his injuries and the lengths he took to achieve his Balance Breaker.

Facing Death.

Overwhelming Power.

Extreme Emotion.

Being pushed to absolute limits helped him gain the strength that he needed, and now, Saji hopes that he'll use this information to his benefit and his best friend regret ever revealing this to him.

'Once I started to realize my new dream and vowed to help make Kaichou's dream a reality, I knew I couldn't allow myself to take things so easy anymore.' Saji gritted his teeth and clenched his fists,

'I can still remember those smarmy grins on those pompous high-class assholes, making fun of the Kaichou's dream. Those bastards, they have no clue about the real reason why achieving that dream means so much to her! If Kaichou's risking everything to make a statement in this fight and I can't, then how can I ever expect myself to one day be a man to walk beside her as an equal!'

(…Are you absolutely certain about this?)

Saji decided to let his actions speak for themselves as he pressed two fingers to the transceiver in his ear, "Tsubaki-senpai!"

[Saji, what's happening there? Did you take care of Hanamura yet?]

"No, I was too late to arrive on time. Mike was able to get medicine from the drug store to cure his allergic reaction. I'm engaging him as we speak…" Saji panted.

[And based on how hard your breathing, I can only assume that you're having trouble. Not as if I'm faring any better…]

"How are things on your end? Are you okay?" Saji quickly trained his eyes on Michael as the Gremory Pawn diligently kept his stance, motionlessly. He knew better than before, Mike may be faster, but he knew that the risk of getting caught in a Shadow Prison and Delete Field would be disadvantageous.

[I-I'm fine, but things not going as well as I would have hoped. Even after their [Bishop] retired these two were able to get a Second Wind. I can't focus on retiring one without the oth-! Mirror Al-guh!]

A loud crackling interfered with the transceiver connection caused Saji flinched as the heavy sound of a thunderclap raked across his eardrum.

"Tsubaki-senpai!"

[D-Don't worry, I was just too hasty to anticipate one of them. Listen, I may be wearing them down, but with both on my back, I'm afraid I can't focus on retiring Gremory-san.] Tsubaki said composed, well, as composed as she could come off as through her heavy breathing.

"Senpai, you…" Her breathing was just as ragged as his, she was losing steam too.

[Saji, I'm fine j-just focus on the opponent in front of you and make sure to hurry over here once you beat him... As Vice-President, I won't tolerate any of my Juniors to slack off!]

'Senpai, thanks, but even I can tell your just trying to mask your own exhaustion too.' Saji frowned at that then breathed in, 'It's now or never…'

"Tsubaki-senpai, summon the shared magical circle I made just before the match…" Saji exclaimed for all to hear.

"Wha-?" Michael tilted his head in confusion and would made a move had one of Saji's eyes not turned into the purple dragon eye, a tell-tale sign of Delete Field.

[Saji, I already told you that I can handle my own, and you already sound like you need all the energy you can spare… Unless your sapping it from Hanamura…]

'With Ascalon, I doubt that I can keep a line on Mike long enough to drain him.' Even one of the Kaichou's contingency plans to drain Michael's blood was obsolete at this point.

"No, no�� The energy is going to come from me, and it'll more than enough to lend you. Word of warning though, I can't get guarantee that I'll be able to concentrate and make it less harmful for you to use it. In fact, what I have planned could potentially retire you."

[…] Saji was met with silence from the other end of the transceiver.

"So Tsubaki-senpai… Do you trust me?"

[…Do it.] Saji heard the sound of the magic circle being etched by her in the air.

(If that's your answer, then I'm right behind you 100%, My Other Self!) Vritra fearlessly roared.

[Vritra…?] Ddraig was off put by the usually quiet Prison Dragon's sudden vigor.

(Even should you face Death, continue to reach out for what's in front you and show everyone your sheer resolve! Come, lets commence this dance of Shade and Quietus!)

"YEAH! Graaaaaaaaaaah!"

*WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

Tensing every muscle that he can move, Saji let out a bellowed that matched the one that Michael gave earlier as a small spark of white touki aura erupted into an explosion of black-purplish draconic energy filled the hallway of the mall.

As the winds batted against his body, Michael had to shield his from the increasing hit of the Saji's aura.

"Okay so I've been left out of the loop so what are you planning now, Saj!?" Michael grunted as he tried pushing through the scalding vicious gale.

"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" He only received the pained, violent screams of his best friend as the furious wave aura only intensified.

"Uh… Ddraig, do you have any clue on what's happening because I'm lost!" Michael turned to his friendly neighborhood Welsh Dragon for answers.

[That talk of death and shadows, and all of this dragon energy…Hm… I got nothing…]

"What!? Really, but don't you know everything to ever know about all the Dragon Kings, heck, dragons in general!?" Michael exclaimed.

[Michael, I only know as much as I did in my past life. I know of Vritra's individual abilities and hazard a guess as to what each of his sacred gears could do. Beyond that is up in the air.]

"Nrgh! Gah…chi…!" Michael unconsciously gripped his burning chest while panting in pain. The hot winds beating against his chest was starting to get to him as a panging burning sensation began to swell up in his chest as if it would explode. Strange, the pain felt…familiar…

'Hm, a pretty weird place to have dejavu… Wait, why do I have dejavu?' Michael blinked in confusion.

[Partner?]

"N-No, its nothi-!"

*WHOOOOOOSH!* *FWOOOOOOOSH!*

"Graaaaaaaaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Michael paused as another pulse of dragon energy emerged from Saji along with a mass of infernal black flames shrouding the Sitri Pawn and decimating the hallway's ceiling, flooring and walls. His ached loud screaming only growing through the flames' inclusion.

"Saji!" Michael worriedly cried out.

"V-V-Vri-!"

"Vri-?"

"VRITRA PROMOTION!"

*BO-BO-BO-BOOOOOOOOOON!* *CRACKLE-CRACKLE!* *CREEEEEEAK~!*

The black aura expanded to the point to where the ceiling itself was creaking under the weight of the floor above it and just growing while the flames mixed and meshed into the form of an Eastern Dragon.

[Wait, hold on… Is he…releasing all of Vritra's power at once!?]

"Oho, that's bad isn't it?"

[Very bad, he's practically going to bring down the entire building if he releases all of that power!]

"But if he does that we'll automatically win, so why!?" That was the question, and he could feel that all of this unbridled power wasn't controllable. Based on experience, if the power was rapidly growing in sequences then its mostly the overflowing power taking the wheel.

The abundance of flaming black aura was nearly close to toppling the entirety of the ceiling onto the first floor of Kuoh Mall. Until the expansion abruptly stopped.

"H-Huh?" Doing his best to look through the maelstrom of flames, Michael barely catches a glimpse of Saji within it with his eyes clenched shut, veins pulsing on his head and arms as kept muttering something to himself.

"HOLD IT…NYAAAAURK…" Saji gagged and groaned in pain, "HOLD IT IN…GRAAAAAAAAH!"

*THUM!*

"Uh…" Michael was bewildered at the sight, the construct of the flaming eastern dragon was shrinking.

*THUM!* *TH-!*

"Aaaaaaugh!" Midway into shrinking the power, Saji screamed bloody murder as a stream of flames burned through and bursted out of his shoulder

*SPRAAAAAAY~!*

"Saji!" Michael panicked.

"Gaugh! Come on… Come on!" Saji chanted to himself through grit teeth.

*-UM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *TH-!*

"Ack! Aaaaaaaaaaah!"

*SPRAAAAAAAY~!*

More black flames tore through back as he reflexively leaned forward, shaking.

"Ddraig, what's happening!?" Michael shouted.

[Something worse than releasing all of Vritra's power…]

"What?"

[He's trying to use his body as a container to initiate a Balance Breaker.]

"He is!? So, like what I did with Shishou?"

[No, like I said something far worse! You forcibly released the dragon energy from the Boosted Gear and pushed yourself to attain Balance Breaker. Your friend basically did that but decided to take things even further by trying to suck in all of that raging energy into his body in one go.]

"Okay, that does sound worse…" Michael gulped and grew pale.

[Extremely worse, like internal combustion kind of worse. If he couldn't control that tempest of Vritra's energy flowing out of him, then his chances of surviving all of that power rushing into him is slim!]

"Then we have to stop him now!" To Michael, the Rating Game meant in comparison to the potential death of his best friend. Releasing his more tempered dragon energy, Michael clenched the fist of his Boosted Gear, "Balance Bre-!"

"STAY BACK!" Saji screamed in between his cries of pain.

"Saj, you're literally dying! You've got to stop, man!"

"NO, I HAVE T-AAUGH! I CAN'T TURN BACK NOW!" Releasing everything will just make him go berserk and destroy the building.

*THUM-THUM-THUM!*

"OOOOOOU-!"

*SPRAAAAY-SPRAAAAY!*

"ACK! GAH…COME ON SAJI, PUSH THROUGH IT! YOU CAN DO IT! ALMOST…!" Saji rapidly shook his head, the two blazing streams tearing through his chest and stomach weren't going to stop him, "IF IT MEANS THAT I HAVE A HIGHER PROBABILITY OF BEATING YOU THEN I'D GLADLY RISK IT ALL!"

"You're that serious about defeating me…?" Michael staggered back, he didn't know whether to feel honored or worried for his friend.

*THUM-THUM-THUM!*

The massive gathering of dragon aura only shrank further into Saji's leant over form.

"OF COURSE, Y-YOUR AMAZING! I CAN'T KEEP LAGGING BEHIND YOU ANYMORE! KAICHOU, TSUBAKI-SENPAI AND EVERYONE, WE'VE WORKED SO HARD TO BEAT ALL OF YOU! TO FINALLY STAND ON THIS STAGE WITH THE WHOLE UNDERWORLD WATCHING AND ATTAIN OUR DREAMS! BY BEATING YOU THE RED DRAGON EMPEROR, KAICHOU CAN MAKE A SCHOOL FREE OF DISCRIMINATION, AND I CAN BOLDY PROCLAIM THAT I'LL BECOME-!"

*THUM-THUM-THUUUM!*

"A MAAAAOU!"

(NOW!)

*TH-THUUUUUM!* *SHIIIIIIIIIIINE~!* *WHOOOOOOOOSH!*

Both Vritra and Saji roared in sync as the massive wave of flaming aura finally shrunk itself down to Saji's body and wrapped itself around in an infernal blazing blanket as it released one more powerful gale of wind.

A gale so powerful that it took even Michael by surprise as he was sent skidding so far back that he found himself near the demolished elevators where Nimura ambushed him and Koneko.

Not even given the chance to acknowledge this, he was too busy looking down the dark hallway. The harsh winds had stopped as he felt a sudden swell of draconic emerge. It had that same inexplicable feeling that he experienced with Kiba and himself.

"Ddraig did Saji just…?"

*CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!*

The quaking sound of metal smashing upon multiple surfaces echoed down the hallway as the quaking only got louder…

He was approaching…

[…Get ready…]

*CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!*

*Beep!*

Receiving a transmission through his transceiver, Michael answered, "Hello?"

[M-Michael? Michael is that you?]

"Buchou?"

[Thank goodness, your okay! I heard about Koneko's retiring and I was worried that you were…ahem, no, focus…] Rias immediately took a breath and shelved her concerns.

*CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!*

The sounds of clanking grew more loud and incessant as their pace began to grow.

[There's a time for that later. Your engaging Saji, yes? Then explain the situation, Akeno and I are facing Tsubaki back in our base and something strange happened to her. She's…Its hard to explain, but she's gotten more aggressive after attaching something to herself. Does that have anything to do with Saji's lines?]

"Uh…I think, yes…" Michael was glad to hear Rias' voice, but his concerns were more on the threat looming down the dark hallway, "After what Saj did, I'm guessing that he did something like that…"

[He did something? Like what per say?]

*CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CRACKLE!* *CRACKLE!*

In a creepy snake life fashion, two black dragon-clawed pincers powerfully latched onto the side of the hallway walls as their two thick tentacles began to drag something up into the air of the spacious area.

…

"Aw, turkeys…" Clenching his fists and getting ready in his stance, Michael immediately cloaked himself with a massive amount of touki as he faced the ominous figure of his friend that casted a shadow over him.

[Michael? Michael, what's going on?]

*CLANK!* *CLANK!*

Shrouded in a black fiery aura, hung Saji Genshirou donning the plating of Jet Black Dragon Armor in a similar fashion to the Red and White Dragon Emperors, however the armor itself possessed a more sinister and menacing appearance than the more gallant and striking Heavenly Dragon Sacred Gears. With its most harrowing feature being the four black tentacle appendages that projected themselves out of his back to lift him up in the air.

Amidst all of the silence, only the call of Vritra's low hissing voice unsettlingly broke it.

(Maleboge Vritra Promotion…)

*GLEAM!*

"Now then Mike, let's try this again…" Saji hoarsely said as one of the four dragon pincers strained opened and ignited on its deadly claws a hellish spiral of black flames.